Rental Housing and Co-Living: Muscovites' Attitude towards Solving Housing Problems in the Context of the Sharing Economy

In Moscow the level of housing security is one of the worst in Russia. Based on the experience of developed countries, rental housing, as well as coliving, could be a solution, especially since it fits into the increasingly developing sharing economy (SCE), which has both economic and socio-cultural prerequisites associated with a change in attitudes towards property and possession of goods. The purpose of the study was to assess the prospects (or, in other words, the potential) for the development of the housing segment of sharing economy; the task was to identify the degree of satisfaction of Muscovites with their housing conditions, their ideas about ways to solve housing problems and their attitude to such methods as renting and coliving. It was assumed that the constraints on the development of these forms are stereotypes regarding private housing and collective forms of living, and the incentives are the intensification of labor mobility, earlier separation of young people from their parents, changes in the methods of conspicuous consumption, and that the main target audience is young people. Empirical data were obtained in the course of sociological studies conducted in 2019, 2021, 2024–2025. It was found that, although many Muscovites are dissatisfied with their housing, consider its prices excessive and do not have their own funds to buy it, there is no reorientation to renting housing and coliving. The majority considers it necessary to own housing, including considering it an important condition for starting a family. Such attitudes are due, on the one hand, to stereotypes of Russians perceiving their own housing as a guarantee of stability and a reliable asset, and coliving as a «communal apartment», on the other – the lack of a civilized rental housing market, due to which renting is seen as an expensive method that does not provide comfort and reliability. At the same time, it was found that younger generations of Muscovites are more ready to solve their problems in such ways.